


The Crusader and her Warrior Monk

by Livkit



Category: Final Fantasy X
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 22:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14246859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livkit/pseuds/Livkit
Summary: A collection of scenes about Lady Yocun and her guardian, written as a birthday gift.





	The Crusader and her Warrior Monk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [auronlu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/auronlu/gifts).



"Is it true?"

Yocun halts in the folding of her garments, though she does not look up. She forces herself to return to the folding; it needs to be done before she can assess what needs to be taken and what should be left behind.

"Is what true?" she says, as if feigning ignorance will protect her. She hears a sharp intake of breath, and smiles to herself. It is not that she dislikes this warrior monk forced on her by Yevon, but she is no heretic like the Al Bhed, or even like Omega of the past. And though she cannot bring herself to live by certain teachings of Yevon, neither has she gone so far as to defy Yevon's teachings.

"The Crusaders say you have resigned your position."

"That is so," Yocun says, pulling out a pack, placing two full outfits in it, as well as a spare pair of boots. She will need to borrow some food from the Crusader supplies to last her until she reaches the Travel Agency the Al Bhed have set up in the Calm Lands, and she only hopes they do not begrudge her the supplies. "I believe that makes me no longer your concern, Captain Lilith. The maesters of Yevon are concerned yet again with the rebellion the Crusaders pose, or so was your claim when you came to oversee things here, so hadn't you best get back to composing your long overdue report?"

"They say you intend to become a summoner!"

Yocun looks up at Lilith, staring.

Lilith chews on a strand of hair, her hands twisting about each other. "I sent the missive back to Bevelle, saying all was well here, during the Sixth Dark Moon," she says, the words coming out in a rush.

"You could've left then," Yocun says. "Why stay three more moons?"

"Because the Crusaders talk," Lilith says, swallowing. "They wonder why you, with such prospects as you had, rejected them all in favour of the blade. Some say you do not follow Yevon, and yet others say you didn't want to have children, but neither of these can be true."

"Why do you say that, Captain Lilith?"

"You are as devout as anyone in Spira," Lilith says, "so you follow Yevon. You have refused to marry suitors from within the Crusaders in the past couple of years, which they took as you being married to the blade. But you have not needed to fear you would get with child for longer than that."

Silence fills Yocun's tent, and the two women stare at each other, until Lilith finds her voice again.

"I hoped... I stayed to see if you refused suitors for the same reasons I have."

Yocun fastens her pack, her movements slow. "Word in the Crusader camps is not so fast as it should be," she says. "They do not know yet that I have passed from apprentice summoner to summoner. I entreated with the fayth of Bahamut, and have gained the aeon. When I leave this camp for good, my pilgrimage begins. But I have no guardian."

"Allow me, my lady."

A faint smile twists Yocun's lips. "It will not be easy; the fiends have grown strong since Ohalland's day."

* * *

"Are you prepared?" says the priest at Macalania Temple. He is old, and Yocun can tell he no longer really cares; he is just another denizen of Spira worn down by Sin's attacks.

"Yes," she says, sweeping by, Lilith following at her heels. The doors clang shut behind them, and they proceed forward through the Trials, entering the antechamber. The room is circular, and directly across from their entrance is an identical door—not the shield-like door that opens to the Chamber of the Fayth. Yocun exchanges a glance with Lilith, before crossing the antechamber. The door opens as she places her hand on it, and she peers beyond to see a spiralling path of ice.

"You will wait here," she says, and she steps beyond without even waiting for a reply, the door closing behind her. The path is wide enough for two to walk abreast, and that gives her more confidence as she makes her way down and around. As she remembers from Bevelle, the shield-like doors bars her way, which rises as she performs the prayer of Yevon. Yocun steps inside, approaching the crystal tomb, and as she kneels, the fayth appears above her prison of stone.

"Bahamut speaks well of you," Shiva says, "although he says you deny yourself in obeisance to Yevon. I tell you, child, there is no such need."

"Sin is our punishment, and we must atone," Yocun says.

"So you would deny yourself the closeness of your guardian, in name of atonement?"

When no answer seems to be forthcoming, Shiva stares down at Yocun, her eyes somehow glittering in her transparent form. "Once, I was human," she says, "and though it has been long enough that I have no name but Shiva now, I cannot forget the one whom I loved best. For I dream, Lady Yocun. Always and forever will I dream of her, for it is her form you summon to battle."

"Then you..."

"I will bestow you with my aeon, summoner," Shiva says, "as well as a warning: tell her before Zanarkand, or not at all, for to condemn another to the same fate as I would be a cruelty beyond imagining."

"Your fate?"

But Shiva says no more, joining with Yocun.

Yocun rises, her balance uncertain, and departs the Chamber of the Fayth. Ascending the icy path is not so easy as descending was, and she knows not how long it had been by the time she reaches the antechamber. Lilith has not been idle in her waiting, and soon a mug of hot soup is in Yocun's hands.

"Are you fit for the Trials?" Lilith says.

"I will be," Yocun says, and she leans up, kissing Lilith. Lilith's eyes widen, but she kisses Yocun back.

The soup ends up frozen to the antechamber floor, not that they notice this.

* * *

Perhaps if—when—Yocun defeats Sin, the seas will not be so treacherous, Lilith thinks as they traverse the Djose Highroad. Perhaps those who are brought up in a Spira free of Sin will travel by boat once again, as she and Yocun should have. A boat from Bevelle to Kilika, and then the journey on foot back north, to culminate at world's end. Zanarkand; where the fayth of the Final Aeon awaits.

"My lady?" Lilith says, slipping her hand into Yocun's.

"What troubles you, Lilith?"

"Why does the Final Aeon turn on the summoner?"

A reflective silence falls, and at last Yocun shakes her head. "Yevon's teachings do not say," she says, "except to suggest that the summoner has not prepared sufficiently. Well do I remember reading that only a summoner who has learned to wield the power of her aeons will be able to receive the Final Aeon, and thus the pilgrimage was decreed to be the way the summoner prepares for the Final Summoning. Now, Lilith, why did no one defeat Sin before Lord Gandof?"

Lilith stares at her. "If the teachings would have us believe that no one before Gandof prepared sufficiently," she says, "what was so different with Lord Gandof?"

"The month before Lord Gandof set out on his pilgrimage," Yocun says, "a fayth was installed at Kilika. Until that occurred, I am sure Lord Gandof had planned to travel to Bevelle, and then set out for Zanarkand, like all summoners before him. Instead, he travelled first to Bevelle, and then to Kilika, and so became the first summoner to have two aeons at his command. He made it to Zanarkand, obtained the Final Aeon, and brought us the Calm. A year before Lord Ohalland's pilgrimage, a fayth was installed at Macalania, and he too brought us the Calm."

Lilith swallows hard. "Besaid..."

"Besaid's fayth was installed about a hundred and ten years ago," Yocun says. "We are yet to see the Calm, I know. It is known that the fiends grow stronger each year that passes without a Calm, and that likely accounts for those who did not shirk their duty."

She doesn't need to say it.

Either the fiends kill her—or the Final Aeon will.

"You posit that a new temple fayth is required before a new Calm begins?" Lilith says, wishing to direct the conversation away from the possibility of death.

"Perhaps it is merely coincidence," Yocun says. "But... I am not so sure. I do not think Yevon believes it coincidence, either. When I was at Bevelle..." She pauses, lowering her voice, even though the road is deserted. "I heard things I suspect were not for me to hear—mentions of a Zanarkand fayth in storage, and talk of installing it at Djose whether a Calm came or not, for one."

"...they are building a temple back along the way," Lilith says, her voice little more than a whisper.

Yocun exhales. "Why would they have a fayth from Zanarkand in storage? And how was it not destroyed nine hundred years ago?"

Lilith shrugs. "I've got no idea... but what else did you hear?"

Yocun shakes her head. "A suggestion without sense, as far as I make out. The temple of Remiem was lost before Gandof's Calm, and I know of no reason to be bothered trying to find it. Unless it's had a caretaker, it should be ruins now. And yet... they said something that seemed reason enough to them: why were they willing to go to all the effort to gain control over Macalania, but not expend any effort on an investigation to find a way into Remiem?"

Lilith looks as confused as Yocun feels, and they drop the conversation.

* * *

"Look!" someone shouts.

Yocun and Lilith turn from the weapons and armour they're examining—not that any of it is better than what they already carry—as does most everyone else on the Kilika Docks. In the far distance, illuminated by the setting sun, they see a shape rise from the water, sending a massive tsunami crashing down on Besaid Island. There is silence, broken by some of the children crying. Yocun and Lilith exchange grim looks: Besaid will have to deal with the attack alone for at least the first day. The ferry journey takes close to half a day, and the S.S. Gysahl's chocobos need a night's rest before they'll be fit to provide power. And yet, she has to ask.

"Captain Chester," she says, performing the prayer of Yevon.

"My lady, the chocobos are done for," Chester says, performing the prayer in return.

"I thought as much." Yocun stares at Besaid, her hands clenching around her weapon—a stave of blue, tasselled ribbons adorning it below a golden decoration that she will later realise is vaguely reminiscent of Valefor. Beside her, Lilith hefts a sword of blue grey metal adorned with gold detailing, swinging it to and fro in frustration.

All the while, Sin destroys Besaid.

They share a bed that night, snuggling close. When morning comes, they wake from a sleep neither thought would happen, and find the S.S. Gysahl is almost ready to depart.

"You could have woken us up," Lilith says.

"Lady Yocun may have much sending to do," says Chester, "so we decided she should get as much sleep as possible."

Up close, the destruction is worse than they thought. Besaid was never a large island, but nine hundred years of attacks have seen great swathes of land consigned to the ocean in one attack or another, and there is so little left of it now that Yocun wonders if in another hundred years, Besaid will be no more.

There is no welcome from the islanders when they dock, and without knowing why, Yocun begins to Send as she steps onto the docks. She walks along, her movements graceful and sublime, her staff twirling around her, and the pyreflies begin to rise. Lilith walks before her, dispatching the fiends with the help of some Kilikan Crusaders, and so they thread through the jungle, coming to the promontory. No one comes to greet them, and all the while, pyreflies rise and disperse around Yocun. None of the party dares to speak what by now they all know to be truth, and they come down into the village, finding it as deserted as the rest of the island.

Besaid Island still stands.

But the people... they are pyreflies now, on their way to the Farplane.

Yocun finishes the Sending, and she and Lilith look down at their weapons.

"I wouldn't be surprised to find these are the last two of the Great Weapons," Lilith says.

"Great Weapons?" Yocun says.

"You know, of course, that weaponry from Besaid was sought after," Lilith said. "Those that used it in tandem with some other weapon reported that Besaid weapons appeared to hit a little harder. Not so much that one _needed_ Besaid weaponry, but enough that one didn't give it up without good cause."

"I believe those secrets have been lost forever."

"The Great Weapons, however, were different," Lilith said. "It's said each was forged under a mirror reflecting the light of the sky—but at different times. None of the weapons were forged with the same light."

"Why would these be two of them?"

Lilith swallows hard. "Because in Gandof's and Ohalland's time... Besaid's people gifted the Lords and their guardians with the first four Great Weapons. As they gifted us with these weapons."

"My Lady." A Crusader comes up, bowing her head. "The hut... you need to see."

Inside the hut is a strange sword, its blade hanging from the ceiling, a mirror above it.

The seventh... and final... Great Weapon.

* * *

Yocun stares at Yunalesca, horror and revulsion crossing her face. At last Shiva's words make sense, and she wishes they didn't.

"Death is the final and ultimate liberation," Yunalesca says, concluding her speech. The same speech she has given for nine hundred years.

But Yocun turns on her heel, departing. Lilith looks between Yunalesca and the door, and Yunalesca gestures dismissively—summoners who have turned back at this truth are not unfamiliar to her.

By the time Lilith catches up to Yocun, she's almost at the entrance.

"I will not do this, Lilith."

"But what of Spira, my lady? Do they not deserve the Calm?"

"The Calm? What good is the Calm, when Sin will come back?"

"We can exorcise Sin with complete atonement," Lilith says, "and perhaps this is the time. Spira has atoned, and we will be the ones to bring peace to Spira." She stands tall, looking at Yocun. This, she needs Yocun to understand. "If it might benefit the future of Spira, I will gladly give my life. It is the highest honour for which a guardian might ask. Use my life, Lady Yocun, and rid Spira of Sin."

There is a long silence, and without breaking it, Yocun begins the walk back to Yunalesca's domain, Lilith walking behind.

* * *

They no longer need weapons or armour, nor their gil and other items gathered and carried with them throughout the pilgrimage. Neither of them have any qualms about dumping the lot at the Al Bhed Trading Agency, though they keep the weapons gifted to them by Besaid.

Now they stand well away from anything in the Calm Lands, waiting.

"Sin comes," a voice says.

They turn to see a woman in green, and she wields the sword from Besaid.

"Why have you that sword?" Yocun says.

The woman raises an eyebrow. "Once a man of Remiem lost four sisters," she says. "He fled his memories, taking refuge in Besaid. But he could not so easily forget his skill, nor the mirror he brought with him. He and his line forged seven great weapons, but now that line is ended." She sighed. "I have gathered the Spirit Lance, the Godhand, the World Champion, the Onion Knight, and the Masamune. The two you carry are the final weapons: the Caladbolg, and the Nirvana."

"What will you do with them?" Lilith says, surrendering the Caladbolg.

"The mirror clouds over, its power spent," the woman said, accepting the Nirvana. "But there is power enough to lock them away until a worthy heir to them comes. As the last of that once great line... it falls to me."

She walks away, and there is no time to dwell on her words, for Sin appears in the distance.

Yocun begins the Final Summoning, though it tears at her heart to do so.

Lilith is vibrant silver, highlights of green running through her, as vibrant as the silver.

It seems to Yocun that Lilith destroys Sin with no more effort than she herself puts forth to breathe—and she blinks, surprised that Sin is gone, and she is still alive.

Lilith shudders, and Yocun looks up.

Lilith loses all colour, becoming a horrifying reflective black before her colour returns, the dream darkened to a nightmare.

Yocun catches but a glimpse before something snaps inside her head, and she collapses.

The Calm begins, brought by High Summoner Yocun.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for AuronLu's birthday and somehow managed to get the date right. Go me.
> 
> I borrowed Lilith's name from AuronLu; it worked as well as anything else did.
> 
> There are certain things in here that fans might read and go "but that's wrong", in which case it's either my personal headcanon, OR I intentionally put it down wrongly because the characters believe it to be correct.


End file.
